The Reject Chronicles

by Darth Pestilence

The Search is On (EDITED)

"As strange as these new visitors are, I am glad that I can finally have somepony to talk to. It can get so lonely out here," Zecora thought to herself as she picked some of the herbs she needed.

Her ears perked up at the sound of approaching hoofsteps. She couldn't discern how many ponies were approaching, but she guessed that there were at least ten on the approach.

"I can't have anypony finding me! Not while the humans are still at my cabin," she thought.

Zecora closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. The thick fog that hid her cabin from any prying eyes closed in on her, surrounding her and the area around her with thick fog while still keeping her vision unobscured.

"Ugh! What is up with this fog?!" one of the guards exclaimed.

"I don't know. Pegasi! Get rid of this fog!" another guard commanded. The pegasi in the unit began flapping their wings in an attempt to dispel the fog, but all they could do was blow it back several feet before it closed in on them again when they stopped to take a break.

While the guards were still attempting to blow the fog away, Zecora pulled out a small knife and cut a large symbol into the ground. Once she was sure that she had gotten the symbol right, she once again reached out with her mind and moved the fog away from the guards, creating a narrow tunnel of fog that led directly to her trap. She of course kept the ground obscured so the symbol would remain hidden from their sight.

The unit of ten was now thoroughly freaked out, but after mustering up their courage, they hesitantly marched forward. Zecora watched just out of their sight as they crept closer and closer to the symbol, just like she wanted them to.

"Closer, closer, and… got them!" Zecora thought. As soon as the guards had stepped hoof on the symbol, they had been surrounded by a faint red glow. Their eyes glossed over and they stood completely still, helpless against the effects of her Hypno Rune.

Zecora put her hood up and stepped into their line of sight, knowing that they were under her command now. She looked to the stallion who appeared to be in charge and spoke. "You will tell your superiors that there was nothing in this area."

The stallion nodded slowly, going as far as to salute to her as if SHE was his commanding officer.

"All of you will never return to this area of the forest, and you will do everything in your power to make sure that your fellow officers don't come here either," Zecora continued. The entire group nodded. "If any of you see the creatures you have been ordered to pursue, then you will let them go. And finally, you will attempt to convince others of the truth: that my human friends are not evil. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the unit said in one clear voice.

"Then go, and fulfill your orders!"

Without any hesitation, the guardsponies turned around and walked away, going to report that nothing had been found in their assigned area.

Zecora removed her hood and trotted back to her cabin, clearing all of the fog around her so that she could find her way back without trouble. When she got back, she went inside to tell her friends the situation, only to see the three of them attempting to clean up a large puddle of soup on the floor.

The three of them looked like deer trapped in a pair of headlights, ashamed that they had been caught making a mess on the first full day of their stay.

Robert spoke. "I'm sorry, Zecora, it was an accident. I just tripped and-"

"While I'm frustrated that you made a mess, we have a bigger concern right now," she said, closing the front door behind her.

"And what would that be?" Robert asked warily.

"While I was collecting the necessary herbs that I will need to make medicine in the future, I was nearly caught by guards that were searching for you three."

All three of the humans were now on their feet, ready to fight if the need would arise.

"Oh, don't worry. I took care of them by luring them over a Hypno Rune," Zecora explained.

"Lured them over a what?" Robert inquired, much to the surprise of John and Mason, who had thought Robert already knew what she was talking about.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Of course you three wouldn't know about Rune Magic. If many Equestrians don't know about it, then why would three beings from another world know about it?" Zecora mused.

Robert stared at her, his face devoid of all emotion. "Rune Magic?"

"It is a type of magic that was developed thousands of years ago by an old unicorn mage. Very few still know the ancient art of Rune Magic. I would not know it myself if the people of my village had not passed it down to my generation."

Robert began rubbing his temples, frustration evident on his face. "And how does Rune Magic work exactly?"

"W-Well one simply has to mark one of the many known arcane symbols onto a solid object. If you get the symbol correct, and you know what the effects are, then it will work," Zecora said, confused by Robert's apparent frustration.

"Are the Runes themselves magical or is it's effectiveness dependent on the magic of the user?" Robert asked, still rubbing his temples.

"Both. An earth pony could use a certain type of rune, but it wouldn't be as effective as a mage's rune would be. But may I ask why you are so frustrated?" Zecora asked, worried and utterly confused by the actions of the teenager.

"Just… answer one more question and I'll give you an answer," Robert murmured, looking up at Zecora.

"Alright?" Zecora curiously said.

"What did that… Hypno Rune do to the guards?"

"It hypnotized them. The Hypno Rune puts those with weaker willpower than the user under the user's control. Now, why are you so frustrated?" Zecora asked.

"I'm just… frustrated that you almost got caught. Try to be careful next time you go looking for herbs," Robert lied.

Zecora stared at him for a minute, not sure if she should believe him or not. "... Okay. I'll be careful," she eventually said, still suspicious of Robert. "I've got to take care of something. I'll get to treating your wounds once I'm done." Zecora pulled the curtains on her windows closed before she walked out of the cabin and shut the door behind her.

"Spill it, Robert. John and I could both tell you were lying to Zecora. Tell us the truth. What's got you so frustrated?" Mason asked.

Robert sighed. "I'm frustrated because of the Rune Magic."

"Why?" John asked.

"Because it's not supposed to exist!" Robert suddenly snapped. "I've watched five seasons of the show and Rune Magic was not a real thing in any of them! It wasn't even mentioned!"

"So you're saying that Rune Magic didn't exist in the show. So what?" Mason said with a shrug.

Robert whipped his head over to Mason so fast that they were worried the younger boy had gotten whiplash. "So what?! SO WHAT?! Do you have any idea what this could mean?! If one thing about this universe is different then who knows what else could be different! What if Twilight turns evil in this universe?!" Robert began panicking.

"Robert," Mason said, slightly raising his voice.

"What if Tirek escaped early on and kills us all in this universe?!"

"Robert," John said, trying to get Robert to stop freaking out.

"What if Discord wins and turns the three of us into-"

"Snap out of it!" Mason commanded as he punched Robert in the stomach. Robert fell to the floor, clutching his stomach as he tried to remember how to breath after having the breath knocked out of him.

"What the heck was that for, Mason?!" John sternly asked, surprised that Mason had punched their new companion.

"He was starting to panic, so I snapped him out of it," Mason explained.

"Well you didn't have to punch him!" John exclaimed.

"That's true, but the only other way to snap him out of it would be to yell at him, and yelling might attract unwanted attention," Mason stated.

"He's right," Robert wheezed as he stood up, grimacing at the pain his injured leg caused him. "I was worrying so much about what could happen that I began to freak out, which is something that’s happened to me from time to time. Thanks for snapping me out of it, even if your method of doing so was rather painful."

"You're welcome. Now how about you go back to reading that book you had earlier?" Mason suggested.

Robert slowly nodded. "Yeah… I think I will."

. . .

Zecora reached the circle of runes she had hidden around her house when she had first built it and stepped back, getting ready to create a new layer of runes to her defense. She clenched the knife in her teeth as she carefully cut a Hypno Rune into the ground.

Once she was finished, she dropped the knife and spoke. "I command that any royal guard that steps on this rune must fulfill three orders: they must report that there was nothing here, they must try to prevent other guards from coming here, and they must let the humans go if they are seen."

The Hypno Rune glowed, indicating that her rune was ready to activate. Zecora briefly considered commanding the guards to try and convince others that her friends were innocent, but realized that too many advocates might rouse suspicion.

Satisfied with her work, Zecora stepped to the side and began making another Hypno Rune.

After thirty minutes of creating symbols and issuing commands, she was finally done creating a circle of Hypno Runes around the house. She admired her work and went back inside, locking the front door behind her.

"Alright, my friends, give me a moment to prepare my medicine, then I'll treat your wounds. I regret that it took until today, but I had to brew some of the medicine I'll be using," Zecora said. She set her saddlebags that were filled with herbs down on the table before going over to a wooden cabinet. She opened it, revealing lots and lots of medicine.

"Who would like to be treated first?" Zecora asked.

"You go first, Mason. You got the worst injury out of the three of us," Robert said to Mason. The older man nodded and got to his feet, removing the makeshift bandage from his shoulder.

Zecora pulled a chair up beside her and pointed to it. "Sit here, please."

Mason sat down in the chair, letting Zecora examine the puncture wound.

"Did it puncture any bone?" she asked.

Mason shook his head. "No, it only pierced skin and muscle."

"How much did it bleed?"

"I think the bleeding stopped when the sun finally came back up on the first day. Is that right, guys?" Mason looked over at the other two for confirmation. They nodded their heads. "Yeah, I felt really light-headed that day."

Zecora frowned at his answer. "And you said that this injury was caused by a needle that was thrown at you?"

"Yes."

Zecora went over to her cabinet and pulled down two large bottles, a roll of gauze, and a small vial of green liquid. "While your wound is deep, it does not appear to be infected, which will make this much easier to treat." She opened the vial and gave it to Mason. "Drink it," she told him.

Mason drank the liquid without question, grimacing at its bitter taste. "Blech! That stuff was bitter!" Mason said as he began coughing.

"I know it's bitter, but trust me, that will help your body heal faster," Zecora said as she opened a large bottle and dumped a pill onto her waiting hoof. "Now swallow this, it will ease your pain."

Mason took the pill, and managed to swallow it with a bit of difficulty.

"I'm sorry I don't have any water that you could have swallowed with that, but I'm fresh out. I was going to get some at the river while I gathered herbs, but I wanted to get back to you as soon as possible after the confrontation with the guards," Zecora remorsefully said.

"I'll be fine, Zecora. It's only one pill," Mason said after he had finally gotten over the bitter taste of the medicine.

Zecora smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll go get some water after I am done treating you and Robert." She opened the second bottle and prepared to pour it on the wound. "This will keep your wound from getting infected. It will sting a bit when I pour it on."

"I got stabbed by a sewing needle, I don't think a little sting will bother me that much," Mason said with a smirk.

"Of course," Zecora responded before pouring a small bit of the bottle's contents onto the injury. Mason tensed up a little bit, but otherwise showed no signs of discomfort. Zecora then got the gauze and wrapped it around Mason's shoulder.

"Alright, we'll check on how it's doing tomorrow afternoon. Now then, let me treat Robert's injury," said Zecora. Mason stood up and went back to his seat on the couch and Robert took his place on the chair. He rolled up his pant leg and removed the makeshift bandage.

"Hmm..." She examined the wound for a few moments before getting another one of the pills. "The part that was bleeding has already scabbed over and it doesn't look to be infected either. Just take this pill and I'll put something on your leg that will help with the bruising."

Robert took the pill with about as much trouble as Mason did while Zecora pulled a medium-sized container off one of the shelves. She opened it up and gave it to Robert, who saw that the container was full of some kind of white paste.

"Apply some of that to the bruise and let it sink in. It will go away in no time," Zecora instructed.

Robert did as he was instructed and applied the paste to the big, fat bruise on his shin.

"Now, I will go and get some water from the nearby river. I'll be back in about five minutes. Remember what I told you to do if the guards come knocking," Zecora said. She put all of the medicine she had pulled out back into the cabinet.

"Yeah, we remember. If anyone knocks more than once, we get under the floorboards," John recited.

"Very good! Bye!" Zecora said as she went out the door with two buckets in her teeth. “Not that I think they’ll need it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Maybe a pegasus would fly over the Runes?” she thought as she left.

Everyone went about their business after that. Mason laid down to take a nap, John pulled a random book off the shelf and started reading, and Robert picked up where he left off in Supernaturals.

---

Robert closed 'Supernaturals'. It had been about thirty minutes since the others had gone to sleep, so he decided it was high time that he got some shut-eye as well. And while he was amazed by all of the things he had learned about pony medicine, and wanted to know more, he knew that he couldn't just stay up all night and read. He put the book down on the table he had been sitting at and chose his place to sleep.

Since Mason had claimed a spare mattress and John had fallen asleep at the table where he had been reading, Robert decided that he would chose the couch as his place of slumber.

Before he laid down he looked over at Zecora, who had also fallen asleep at her place of work.

After Zecora had returned with the water, she had taken measurements of the three of them, telling them that she was going to: "Make new clothes for them that don't smell like dirt and sweat." That had managed to get a chuckle out of the normally serious Mason. Then again, Mason did seem to take a liking to Zecora when they got to talking. Mason might not have outwardly said it, but Robert could tell. He always had a knack for understanding people.

"Enough reminiscing. Time to go to bed," Robert said to himself, lying down and making himself comfortable on the couch. He closed his eyes and began to drift off, when one particular memory about the day before popped into his head.

"What was with me when I was talking to Flash? I don't like him that much, but I wouldn't act so harsh with someone I don't like!" He opened his eyes and sat up, then he reached into his pocket and pulled the Batarang out. He stared at it closely, trying to see if there was anything peculiar about it that he hadn't noticed before. "The way I acted yesterday was a lot like… Batman." He examined the Batarang for a moment more before he set it on the ground. "Well, no matter the reason why I acted the way I did, I'm guessing it didn't earn me any points with the ponies." Robert frowned at that thought, which led him to reminisce over the other misfortunes that had fallen upon him.

"I really screwed up, didn't I?" Robert thought somberly. "If I had spoken up just a bit sooner, if I didn't trip over that stupid root… we might have not gotten ourselves into this mess." Robert sighed and looked up at the ceiling, almost like he was looking for something. "What would you have me do, Dad?" he thought before he closed his eyes and finally went to sleep.

Author's Note:

Introducing Rune Magic! An original branch of magic that was created just for this story. I hope you liked it's inclusion! -Darth Pestilence

Comments

[Darth Pestilence]

6203689 Thank you, and I will try

[Godiswithus3]

Hmmm. I'm beginning to sense that some big changes in Equestria will occur if the signs indicate anything. As for Robert's dilemma.....jeez, he's struggling with the mistakes he has made. As for the introduction to rune magic, I got no problems with it.

[Flutters Is Shy]

Rune magic... yeah, I'm stealing that for one of my stories.